Today, 10 September is World Suicide Prevention Day 2026. This year, the day occurs immediately before the date that the UK Parliament is due to debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a Bill to change the law on ‘assisting or encouraging’ suicide.
To highlight this remarkable juxtaposition the Augustine Bioethics Network (ABN) has hosted a discussion on the relationship between ‘assisted dying’ and suicide prevention facilitated by Dr Gillian Wright, with Psychiatrists Dr Anne Doherty, Prof Allan House and, from Canada, Dr John Maher, and Bioethicist, Prof David Albert Jones. The event is available to watch on our YouTube Channel and there are also short clips of each of the speakers.
This occasion also draws attention to an important Position Statement on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia by the International Association for Suicide Prevention. The tension between this statement and the Bill has also been highlighted by Alex Ruck Keene of the Complex Life and Death Decisions group at King’s College London.
For more on euthanasia and assisted suicide see the resources available from the Augustine Bioethics Network www.abnethics.org https://www.youtube.com/@ABNEthics If the issues discussed here affect you or someone close to you, you can call Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and ROI), visit their website https://www.samaritans.org/
